Reviews

Despite are from Sweden and play modern metal. This is their third album.

This makes a good impression very early on. Despite play a kind of modern metal that takes from the Swedish melodic death metal scene of yore, as well as more modern and even some progressive/djent elements. Synergi is my first exposure to the band, and to my ears comes across as a mix of Darkane, In Flames, Fear Factory and Whitechapel.

With three guitarists, the music is nicely heavy and treads the line between simple bruisers and a more complex approach with ease. The songs can go from being heavy, to melodic, to exploratory at the drop of a hat.

This is well-written metal with a lot to commend it. The melodic parts are emotive, the heavy parts are crushing, and it’s clear the band can play. It’s all wrapped up in the kind of gleaming, professional production that this kind of thing needs, too.

Although anything of this ilk can easily sound done-to-death and stale, Despite manage to skilfully avoid this by virtue of good songwriting, a thorough metal core and a streamlined, modern veneer. The latter is due in no small part to the keyboards and their interplay with the guitars; something that manages to recall a Fear Factory influence, but without actually sounding like them, which is no mean feat.

Also; solos. Nice.

The fact that they have three guitarists simply opens up more avenues for Despite to explore than a lot of similar bands too, and unlike some other bands with three guitarists, the band use them quite well for the most part.

Synergi is surprisingly varied; within the restrictions of the sub-genre they operate in, Despite have made the most of the space they have to offer the listener a great deal of engaging content. The album is relatively long for this kind of music, (13 tracks, 52 minutes), so the fact that they have been able to accomplish this variety helps prevent the listener from losing attention.

I particularly like the vocalist as he has a lot of range and talent. Everything from growls, shouts, screams and cleans are used, and he even uses multiple styles of those, including different types of clean singing. The latter talent helps the songs differentiate themselves, especially when added to the relative diversity of the music.

Despite’s new album has impressed. It’s well-crafted, catchy, memorable and provides a strong fix of modern metal that manages to combine instant appeal with the longevity of a properly enjoyable metal album.

Initially discovering this act a few year back with the announcement of Peter Tuthill (formerly of Construcdead and Carnal Forge), it seems as if it’s taken quite a bit of time to get the band’s third act,Synergi, off the ground and running. But like all good things, Synergi is worth the wait. This is modern melodic death metal that is capable of showing both teeth and heart.

Like a number of similar bands that have put out some excellent melodic death metal (Synthetic, Countless Skies, Rage of Light) – staying firmly in the realm of melodeath is not in their plan. Making use of the traditional does come in handy though, with “Soul = Denied” starting things off on the thrashier side of things, with Tuthill shouting atop catchy, mid-tempo riffing. “Give Me Life” uses faster and more violent riffing in the verses (along the lines of Carnal Forge) but smoothly transitions into a soaring chorus as the song continues. “As You Bleed” pushes more groove into the mix, along with some truly bottom-heavy sounds but the band again breaks things up for a melodic chorus. “Time Lapse” works as the quasi-ballad for the album, sounding more in line with 2000’s hard rock but it works as an effective change-up before “Chaos Trigger” accelerates the band back into their mid-tempo crunch. Also worth noting is the use of three guitarists, which allows for some interesting riffs and melodies, with “Praedonum” having some of the most initially arresting.

The little bells and whistles (and diversity within) keeps Synergi from sounding like yet another modern melodic death metal band. Despite has a strong range of players involved, with keeps them flirting at the boundaries and providing material interesting enough to last close to an hour. Easily worth checking out for the melodeath fan.

The city of Gothenburg, Sweden is a literal breeding ground for melodic death metal. So much so that some people even give that scene its own branch of melo-death, but when something becomes so abundant you’re bound to come across plenty of bands with loads of talent and many with lack thereof. Despite, though, have shown that they can make the better quality death metal of all the bands to come out of their city, and “Synergi” is a perfect showcase of that. Busting in with 13 tracks in total, this record features brand spanking new material that fans of the band will hear and approve by listening to the music for mere moments, but seven of those tracks are all old tracks. Five of them from Despite’s previous EP, “Epic”, and their last two stand alone singles, “Chaos Trigger” and “Praedonum”. Albeit, I still love all of those tracks as much as I did when I first heard them it is a tad of a let down when I went in there expecting all new shit, but in the end that is honestly the only negative thing I have to say about “Synergi”. Apart from that, the whole of the album is monumentally entertaining without question. You’d think getting six guys into one room trying to create even one song made with three guitars, vocals, bass, and drums would be fucking chaos, yet Despite make it work to absolute best possible result. “Synergi” sees Despite take new routes that they clearly have the aptitude to do it fantastically well, the sound to push their skills to the limit, and the sheer power that is still a big slap to the face no matter how you look at it. These gentlemen have shown before that they’re more than worthy enough to be listened to and that even though they may be surrounded by bands that are trying to follow in the foot steps of their literal neighbors who’ve achieved fame and success in the metal world, Despite is one of those few gems amongst the rest that show they’ve got the talent, the sound, and the capability to stun us all. And “Synergi” proves that there is only up for this band, and it’s easy to see why.

Anyone who has been a close follower of Despite for even a few years know that their roster constantly changes. Whether it be adding new members or having some leave, Despite has seen many faces come and go over the band’s history. That can easily destroy the band. However, Despite have not backed down from bringing their own brand of Swedish melodic death metal, and even though the band has lost all of its original members this group still has high goals in sight and their upcoming record, “Synergi”, shows that they’re nowhere near the end.

Going in balls to the walls with thirteen tracks off “Synergi” that absolutely bring the hammer down and smash everything in its path. Now, as a Despite fan you might be thinking “holy fuck, 13 brand new tracks?? That’s amazing!” Well, the term “brand new” isn’t exactly true. “Synergi” features six brand spankin’ new tracks that we’ve never heard before. The other seven you ask, all tracks from Despite’s last EP, “Epic”, as well as their last two stand alone singles, “Chaos Trigger” and “Praedonum”, remastered and seemingly re-recorded so that everything is more bass heavy than what they already were. Do I think that’s a great move? It does seem a little lazy if I’m to be perfectly honest but hearing new, and dare I say improved, versions of songs that I’ve come to know and love is refreshing. Then mixing that with fantastic new tracks that show how much evolution Despite has gone through in terms of making music and stylisitic variety while still staying within the description of melodic death metal, you get a pretty awesome result if I do say so myself. “Synergi” proves that they still got the power that they have made a name for in their time as a band with their vocals that are perfect for anyone who wants to get into death metal, three eight-stringed guitars to pound you into dust, a thunderous bass that does not quit, and a set of drums to satisfy you into next year. The whole album is such and will definitely fill the desires of fans of this band as well as people looking for something new yet refreshing that is always immensely entertaining, and saying that does not even begin to describe the peak that Despite have reached with “Synergi”. They just continue to overall get better and better which is not something I say without weight because it only happens in one in every ten thousand (at least) bands, and Despite have proven to without a doubt be such a group.

Despite have been known for their very melodic sound and have even been criticized for having clean vocals as well as growls (or whatever the fuck you want to call them), but you can’t deny that they have made a damn good name for themselves. Whether it be them being a live show powerhouse or the level of variety and quality found in their studio releases, “Synergi” stands as a powerful testament that Despite is not ready to sit down yet even though they’ve still got a long road ahead of them.

ENGLISH:
Something that doesn’t help on that discussion is the fact that the Swedish melodic death metal also has a modern variant, which also, metalcore influences a lot. This being said, we can say, with a mixture of assureness and suspicion that Despite plays modern melodic death metal. It may be pretty common talk about Swedish melodic death metal, but at this point in time, melodic death metal became automatically attached to metalcore (for lots of people, without reason), until it got relevant to refer and point to this sub-genre of the extreme music. “Synergy” is their third album, and we must say, independently of its sub-genre where we can (should we?) tag them, there is strength all over. Now, we go into some not so shiny parts, more precisely, the song Unexceptional, this track gets too close to what we get tired of, since the mid 2000’s until today. The song in question, reveals itself too common, full of stuff we have seen dozens of times, which may compromise songs like the effulgent opening track, “Soul=Denied” or “Awakening”. Still, some details apart, we can’t say we have a predictable work, even where there is some predictability, as on “The Perpetual Weakening” and “Triage”. There is not a clear idea of what the future reserves for Despite, but we feel that the band has a (confirmation album? what that may mean?) that let us full of hope. Heaviness and melody, plus some clichés added to the mix, bring us a really positive result

Your first clue that Despite are a prog/math metal band is the album cover which has an image of a brain and cogs turning inside.

Officialy classified as melodic death metal I found the album to be a lot more proggy than death metal. If you like ‘Fear Factory’ or ‘Meshuggah’ you are going to find something in this album for you. The clean vocals may be a surprise as they are more ‘Soilwork’ orientated than death metal but the electronic infused songs are grandiose as a result.

There is a lot more variability in the music than most electronic metal bands as a result of the slightly progressive infusions. The funky bass on ‘Triage’ shows that this band is about dynamics and ‘Triage’ is a welcome interlude from the monstrous songs ‘Soul=Denied’ and ‘As You Bleed’.

Production is solid and by the time you get to ballad-like ‘Time Lapse’, you are well aware of how the vocals and guitar interchange across huge emotive melodies that are reminiscent of the band ‘Vast’.

‘Chaos Trigger’ is definitely one of the stand out tracks as it has those Swedish sounding ‘In Flames’ vocals, and operatic synths underlying a nice chunky syncopated riff structure.

What is interesting is the death metal element that comes through the title track ‘Synergi’. With the double kick pacing away underneath you can almost visualise the strobes at a live concert.

Vocalist Peter Tuthill moves between deep guttural growls, nu-metal edgy quips and soaring melodies. It is an interesting mix and matches the complexity of the guitar and drums.

Everything about this album is aurally and visually pleasing – from the liner notes to the finest detail of the production. Using three eight string guitars the entire performance is an exercise in heavy crushing down tuned bliss while the polyrhythmic soundscapes keep your mind working and your foot tapping.

The solo’s are virtuoso in scale and are not too egotistical in scale or length. The exact opposite of powerviolence this album is all about perfection, clear clarity and crystallised focus.

Despite was originally formed in 1998 by guitarist Timmy Leng as a side project. The band released a seven song EP entitled “In Your Despite” in 2009. They quickly followed up with their debut album “Clenched” which they released independently in 2010.In 2012 the band refocused, and the lineup changed to better suit a more aggressive, technical direction. After two years, the band emerged from their cocoon in early 2014 with the release of “Epic” – a beautifully brutal EP. Epic was exceptionally well received and garnered critical acclaim from the press and their growing international fan base. Later on the same year, DESPITE released “Chaos Trigger” a single that catapulted the band to new levels of notoriety, and as a result VH1.com named the band one of “fifteen metal bands you should be listening to”. On a high note, the band followed up in early 2015 with their latest single “Praedonum”, and donated a portion of the sales to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Shortly thereafter Despite caught the attention of Eclipse Records (Mushroomhead, Bobaflex, A Breach of Silence), and re-entered the studio to record new material for the label’s consideration.

Naturally, upon hearing the new material Eclipse signed the band in early 2016.

The new album, entitled “Synergi” was produced by Oscar Nilsson at Crehate Studios(Gothenburg, Sweden).

Gothenburg, Sweden’s Despite are back with an album that meshes the grandiosity of progressive metal with the bloody-knuckle-brutality of death metal. Synergi is a testament to everything the Gothenburg scene has built.

After opening up with “Soul = Denied”, Despite drops the listener down into the melodic-instrumental soundscape that is the beginning of the second track “As You Bleed”. “As You Bleed” is a UFC inspired banger that brings the listener up-close-and-personal with Vocalist Peter Tuthill’s growl. The song starts with a challenge: “Let’s get this rumble started right now (right now) // I’m gonna show you how it’s done // Let the fists slam like atom bombs // I’m gonna have a little fun (with you)!” And ends eerily: “As you’re bleeding out you are filled with doubt to your own existence // when the fingers snap and your jaw is cracked you’re left to fend for yourself!”. The title track is also a demonstration of the sound of the album. Opening up with blistering fast drums and coercing the listener to snap their neck, this track leaves behind any pretense of melody present throughout other tracks.

“Inject new blood, ignite the flames // dissect the core, rebuild the frame! Reassemble! This new machine will push the envelope afar // Grow embers! We’ll never take defeat, there’s no surrendering!”

From Gothenburg, Sweden Despite comes with a new album which comes out on July 22th, 2016. The album “Synergi” will be released via Eclipse Records.
It’s been some time since we were offered an album through Eclipse Records but when they send us something new it’s always a pleasure.

The album is full of up-tempo songs with a modern metal touch, you actually hear this more often in different bands. However Despite a bit different. The pounding guitar riffs are well developed and arrangementencan sometimes sound illogical, but that is also the force of Despite’s arrangements.

With songs like “Triage” it’s sometimes even melancholic sounding in combination with clean vocals.

The keyboard influences you hear back on the album are not extremely present on the album but fit well.

It’s funny. I went on YouTube to watch a video and celebrate this new band signed by Eclipse Records. They call themselves “Despite,” and even the name brought interesting thoughts to mind. “Despite” is one of those multi-faceted terms that commands our attention more through it’s secondary usage, for the initial appearance in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary has it represented as a noun, and therefore, linked directly with words like “contempt” and “malice.” Still, we primarily use the term as a preposition, one of those key words in the middle of the sentence that makes us sit up straighter and take notice, because we are about to witness an action that was performed “in spite of.” This is more where I think this band marks its territory. “In spite of” suggests that there was a new idea just conceived that would oppose traditional and antiquated norms, conceived by those baptized by fire, and illustrated for us in vibrant explosions of color and contour straight in the face of blurred truth, fine print, and euphemism.

Plainly, the band Despite rocks the living shit out of you, and they do it in a way that is ultimately surprising and refreshingly unique. Their roster includes vocalist Peter Tuthill, bassist Anthony Cui, drummer Janne Jaloma, and three master axe grinders – Timmy Leng, Andre Gonzales, and Zoran Panovic – who play eight-string guitars and tune them a full step down in order to add a heaviness and bottom that will knock you bow-legged. There is much to say about their performance ability and musicianship, yet before giving close analysis to their newly released single “As You Bleed,” I thought it more than appropriate to dovetail back to the idea of “definitions” and the way this band shatters the concept.

I looked up some of their videos “pre-Eclipse,” and in reading the comments below the “Show Me” prompt, I marveled at some of the “definitions” fans pinned to this wonderfully diverse project.

I sincerely hope the last one quoted is aware of his own use of irony, yet either way it brings a couple of interesting issues to the surface. First, in the metal game, fans are possessive, emphatic, and defensive about the trivia, almost like maniac-historians, drawing up flowcharts and marking specific historical shifts in the landscape determining the birth and strange, complicated journey heavy metal has taken since Black Sabbath shocked the world with their debut album in 1970. And if you happen to try and stick a Post-It note to the timeline yourself, well, you had better not get a fucking detail wrong. All too often, metal-heads are not patient tutors. Still, their allegiance to the art is unshakable. They might not always articulate things in crystal prose and poetic nuance, but they are certain as fuck when they know what they know and they are never even minutely unclear.

Then comes a band like Despite, and in this overarching, multi-faceted genre, where precision is celebrated as much as rebellion, where truth is exposed to be raw and untamed, where musicians would show us experimentation before formula…we have come to a strange juncture where it has become appropriate somehow to define, pigeonhole, and compartmentalize the new vision playing out before us, all according to “rules” seemingly carved into some sort of ancient, holy monolith and enforced by strict fans who police the territory like stone faced assassins.

But I thought metal was all about breaking rules, about questioning standards and using the guidelines mostly so you could draw outside of them. Look. Despite is a metal band. They are from Gothenburg Sweden, and they do in fact celebrate the guitar, the hard chunk, the current and fashionable metal-groove delay, and a buzzsaw vocal that will rip your spine apart. The percussion is complex yet driving, and the overall effect of the project is one that makes you a part of it immediately. OK. Standards are standards, and we can check off a few of the neat little boxes.

However, as one can see in the “As You Bleed” video, off the album Synergi, release date July 22nd, 2016, they do some things within the general framework of metal that are refreshingly unique, and this begins with the way they utilize their guitars and the instrumentation around them. The piece begins with a riff that is both funky and industrial, an addictive hook in itself, but for the purpose of texture and mood, there are velvety patterns developed on both sides (atop and below) if you will, featuring intricate, hummingbird double bass drum work like dark supple bottom feathers and then melodic, sustained lead as if ethereal wings above it all, heartbreaking in its subtle dissonance, layered in the second part of the phrase in harmony.

When Tuthill comes in with the first verse in growl, the harmony guitars drop out and join the background riff, but we are quick back to the theme of sustained notes, like keys backgrounding the hook where Tuthill has cleverly switched to a traditional vocal. Just when we are comfortable in a theme, however, it evolves, and the one line chorus ends with a break, a vocal roar, and a traditional melodic leads that erupts. That’s right. It explodes off the neck, and while melodic leads don’t normally do that we appreciate the contradiction, especially since it develops quickly into a strange, almost Mediterranean vibe that not only fits the dissonance, but compliments the background sustain still echoing in our memories.

The song is full of changes, in other words, that do not fit too many past patterns and standards, but make sense within themselves. This is new. This is art, and the portrait is startling and glorious.

After the first two verses, there is a break, a smart drum riff, and the lead guitar goes to an octave technique, an arresting transition that sends us off deep into a journey of the unexpected. The octaves continue, and the vocal joins the background guitars in the ongoing theme, brought to the forefront unexpectedly, and giving the song a medieval, choral feel. Talk about irony; presented to us is a mood and tapestry the opposite of what we would have expected, though the themes were already given to us in other contexts. Were this a film or a book, we would call it brilliant foreshadowing leading to an unexpected climax or plot-twist. And while Despite’s aforementioned fan might not even be aware of his own verbal irony, it is more than clear that the band drew this one up purposefully. To break trends. To blow us away.

The balance of “As You Bleed” returns to its original themes and hooks then, offering the riff and the chorus for reinforcement, and by the time the song is over, you know it like the back of your hand. You can hum it even, but don’t expect to sell the dissonance as if delivered on some heavenly feathered wing. That gift belongs to Despite, and lucky for us, they’re willing to share.

On thematic / visual grounds, the song “As You Bleed” features blood, lots of it, and if you look at Despite’s latest press releases, they claim that the song is a sort of an ode to the violence and glory of the UFC. Cool. I happen to watch the UFC exclusively, and truly believe it has made boxing obsolete, but the idea of the ring, the arena, and the octagon does not just address the literal boundary in professional fighting. The “crucible” is a metaphor for a physical or psychological trap that forces people to confront things they wouldn’t ordinarily choose to. In other words, for the sake of modesty, it seems Despite has offered us a particular and singular read of their song, when there are some universal emblems that would mark the periphery of their work with added depth and dimension.

From a novelistic standpoint, the crucible is a vital part of the lexicon that writers use for the sake of structure and heightened dramatic potency, in many ways as effective as an overt conflict or time limitation. These difficult traps are all around us, and when forced into one, we soon discover that it is a dramatic playing field defined by wins and losses. In a literal sense, this is our “octagon,” our football fields and basketball courts, but aside from sport, we can alter the lens slightly and consider other crucibles that dictate similar tensions, like the courtroom, the classroom, the bedroom, the home. Put two people in a situation through which they must interact unhappily, with borders, and you have just as much a form of dramatic imprisonment as a scene from the film Saw.

In the case of “As You Bleed,” I would argue that the blood (and the video is filthy with it) and their allusion to the UFC, both more represent the metaphorical human arena, where we are sometimes put up against a wall so to speak and we must act, come out of our comfort zones, lose our cool, sacrifice our aura of control. To make a point. To die on a hill if necessary. If you can’t quite picture this phenomenon, ask any parent that ever has to defend his or her child against stacked odds. Whether the adversary is a bully or a school administrator you do what you have to do. For your child. For the family. You might get “bloody” and it might not be pretty, but you enter the arena to win. Then you do it. We all have. It is how we are built and the way our personal narratives are constructed at their very core.

Despite has given us this distinctive video titled “As You Bleed,” and the blood-effect plays more about wearing your heart on your sleeve than victory on your chest. There is a heavenly overtone despite the heavy, riff-oriented structure, and a feeling of jubilation that builds inside the viewer as opposed to the dread such gore would normally initiate.

Despite.

The opposite of what we would expect, and in that spirit, maybe we should just pull out all the stops and categorize them as Deathcore Medieval-Ethereal Power Thrust Labarynthian Nuance Trance Metal, with an undercurrent of Black Meta Fusion Def and an overlay of Mock Corinthian Slaughter-Groove that would hint at Gregorian Maniacal Funk Thrash and Goth Steampunk Killer Muse.

Or maybe we should just say that Despite rocks, that they walk the walk, that they say it and play it, and maybe after all the labeling, they are just plainly and simply a great fucking band.

As soon as one says the words ‘Swedish melodic death metal’, certain associations begin to form. The spectres of the likes of In Flames, Soilwork and Dark Tranquillity immediately materialise and hover over proceedings, colouring first impressions before nary a note has been struck. Despite may well have chosen their name in recognition of that fact, and have certainly distinguished themselves from their countrymen and contemporaries by adopting a triple-pronged guitar configuration, all three guitars being of the 8-string variety, and tuned a full octave below standard – instrumentally, at least, aligning them more closely to the bruising metalcore of The Acacia Strain or the down-tuned yet nimble fretwork of the djent generation.

The bruising low-end afforded to the band by their choice of extended-range instruments is put to ample use on their forthcoming album Synergi, which is released through Eclipse Records on July 22nd – and you can get a good sample of the weighty, yet tuneful hammering on offer in that record by way of the official video for ‘As You Bleed’;

Appropriately enough for such a punishing tune, the track was inspired by a UFC fight that vocalist Peter Tuthill watched – which goes some way to explaining why, in the video, each member of the band seems to have just emerged from a devastating street-brawl, blood-spattered as they are. The video itself is pretty much a straight performance video – no fancy locations, intercut narratives or extravagant special effects for this lot.

Thankfully, the team behind the video resisted all impulses to shake the cam like the set was being carpet-bombed, to edit as frenetically as though all the cameras could only film for a third of a second, and generally make shit as visually incomprehensible as possible, meaning the viewer can enjoy the track while following the performances – a seemingly rare feat these days. It’s a straightforward, unpretentious video for a straightforward, unpretentious song – one whose tuneful, yet weighty character is well-served by such a pared-down approach.

Despite‘s Synergi is released via Eclipse Records on July 22nd.

d not skimp on the number of songs on the record, it has up to 13 songs, which is quite a well-filled album.